Do my zoas look normal to you?

[Rupture Reefer]

Hey, I put these zoas in two days ago, and they still have not opened. I am not sure if they are looking bad or not. All my water parameters are good except that my nitrates are at 21 and my nitrites are at 2.4. I've heard that they like dirtier water, but will they be Ok? Do they look Ok?
Thanks

 

[James M]

They don’t look good
They take awhile to acclimate to your tank.

 

[Osaurus]

What kind of flow do you have them in?

 

[Rupture Reefer]

What kind of flow do you have them in?

I have them on the bottom of my tank. I suppose the flow is moderate to low

 

[Osaurus]

Just saw that you have measureable nitrites (not good) they should be at zero. How long ago did you cycle your tank? Regardless, you’re going to need to address your nitrite issue. Start with a decent water change.

 

[Rupture Reefer]

Y

Just saw that you have measureable nitrites (not good) they should be at zero. How long ago did you cycle your tank? Regardless, you’re going to need to address your nitrite issue. Start with a decent water change.

Yeah, my tank has been going for 6 months now (though I have just added coral) and I have a refugium. I have been adding nitrifying bacteria. What, I'll do a water change. I don't know if this will change anything, but I did find one of my hermit crabs dead, so I took it out.

 

[Rupture Reefer]

Can these high nitrites kill my zoas?

 

[Osaurus]

If left exposed to them long enough, I’d assume so. If I was in your position, I’d knock out a 20-30% water change ASAP.

 

[OREGONIC]

Nitrites should always be zero. Sounds like your tank is cycling, or you have a bad test kit. What are your other parameters and what test kits are you using?

 

[Rupture Reefer]

Nitrites should always be zero. Sounds like your tank is cycling, or you have a bad test kit. What are your other parameters and what test kits are you using?

I think that my tank is cycled because it has been running for several months. Maybe it is the test kit, I am using a the Tetra Test Strips.
pH: 8.2
Phos: .5
Alk: 8
SG: 1.025
Temp: 79

 

[Rupture Reefer]

I also just added some Seachem Prime to see if that will help.

 

[OREGONIC]

Test strips are terrible. If your tank has been up and running for that long and you have not made any drastic changes to stocking, or not way over feeding i think your nitrite readings are just off because of test strips are being used. First thing first get good test kits for Alk, Cal, Mag, nitrates, and phosphates. Also get a refractometer to test salinity. Zoas can take a while to open when added to a tank. I had some that took weeks. If you have a local fish store near you see if they will test a sample of your water for salinity, alk, cal, nitrates, and nitrates for you. Keeping coral tho you will need to test all that weekly so get reliable test kits. Eventually you will be able to put off testing some of the parameters for a few weeks with exception of alk. As you add more coral you will need to test alk several times a week.

 

[Rupture Reefer]

Test strips are terrible. If your tank has been up and running for that long and you have not made any drastic changes to stocking, or not way over feeding i think your nitrite readings are just off because of test strips are being used. First thing first get good test kits for Alk, Cal, Mag, nitrates, and phosphates. Also get a refractometer to test salinity. Zoas can take a while to open when added to a tank. I had some that took weeks. If you have a local fish store near you see if they will test a sample of your water for salinity, alk, cal, nitrates, and nitrates for you. Keeping coral tho you will need to test all that weekly so get reliable test kits. Eventually you will be able to put off testing some of the parameters for a few weeks with exception of alk. As you add more coral you will need to test alk several times a week.

Ok, thank you so much. That is a relief. I will get some salifert test kits. But about the picture I posted above, do you think they are just stressed and will recover. Or is there something else serious going on?

 

[OREGONIC]

Hard to tell could go either way. Don’t loose hope in them yet. It could take a few weeks to really tell if they will be ok. Did you dip them before you added them? How did they look at the store you got them from?

 

[Rupture Reefer]

Hard to tell could go either way. Don’t loose hope in them yet. It could take a few weeks to really tell if they will be ok. Did you dip them before you added them? How did they look at the store you got them from?

I dipped them for 15 minutes. They looked great from where I got them

 

[SamsReef]

My guess is your nitrite along with nitrate/phosphates are high.

Do get yourself a good test kit, as suggested already. Saliferts are good for nitrates, KH, calcium.

Consider ultra low Hanna device for phosphate(actually measures phosphorous and you can back into phosphate)

 

[OREGONIC]

I dipped them for 15 minutes. They looked great from where I got them

Time will tell but given your parameters are good the should open within a few weeks. Just stay up on water changes till you get your nitrites figured out, I would guess its just a testing error from using strips. Make sure the water you are using for your water changes matches your current salinity, temp, alk, and cal. If your are changeing water and it does not match those parameters it will cause more harm then good due to parameter swings.

 

[Rupture Reefer]

Time will tell but given your parameters are good the should open within a few weeks. Just stay up on water changes till you get your nitrites figured out, I would guess its just a testing error from using strips. Make sure the water you are using for your water changes matches your current salinity, temp, alk, and cal. If your are changeing water and it does not match those parameters it will cause more harm then good due to parameter swings.

Ok, thank you so much!

 

[sfin52]

Test strips are terrible. If your tank has been up and running for that long and you have not made any drastic changes to stocking, or not way over feeding i think your nitrite readings are just off because of test strips are being used. First thing first get good test kits for Alk, Cal, Mag, nitrates, and phosphates. Also get a refractometer to test salinity. Zoas can take a while to open when added to a tank. I had some that took weeks. If you have a local fish store near you see if they will test a sample of your water for salinity, alk, cal, nitrates, and nitrates for you. Keeping coral tho you will need to test all that weekly so get reliable test kits. Eventually you will be able to put off testing some of the parameters for a few weeks with exception of alk. As you add more coral you will need to test alk several times a week.

Ya the ones I just added took 4 weeks for all the polyps to open.

 

[ks2509]

They take some time to open depending on what type. I had a frag of rastas with 4-5 polyps when I got it they took over a week to fully open.